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March 16, 2004
Interview with IBO Systems
By QBlog in
I first learned of IBO Systems back in January. Someone posted a link to the site in the Forum and after a brief examination of the service I made this prediction:
Mark my words. This IBO Systems thing is going to be BIG. If not the business itself, the idea behind what they're doing is going to radically change the way Quixtar IBOs do business.The reason for my bold prediction was that I saw IBO Systems utilizing the Web in ways that Quixtar and its related groups had not yet done. Those behind the business seemed to "get" the Web and that became clearly evident when I was contacted by Adam Cornwell, founder and head developer of IBO Systems.
After a few brief email conversations with Adam I realized that there was something refreshingly different going on with his company and wanted to learn more. Adam agreed to take a few moments and answer some questions about his business, Quixtar, utilizing Web communications and much more.
QBlog - Please take a moment to introduce yourself.
Adam - I'm Adam Cornwell, and I'm the founder and head developer for IBO Systems. My educational background is in engineering, finance, and business. I spent five years in the design and engineering field doing everything from research and development on the latest surgical instruments, to designing corporate exhibits, and eventually large rock crushing equipment for the aggregate industry. I was blessed with a technical and artistic talent from my father and mother respectively, and decided that the engineering field lacked the creativity I desired, so I began exploring web development. I found web development to have the perfect blend of technical and artistic requirements so I started a web development firm called ForSite, LLC which is the parent company of IBO Systems.
QBlog - What exactly is IBO Systems? What does it do and why would anyone care about what it does?
Adam - IBO Systems provides professionally designed prospecting web sites for Quixtar IBOs. There are three distinguishing characteristics that make IBO Systems unique. First, our web sites are designed by real business people for aspiring business people. Our web sites don’t rely on hype or any other ethically or morally questionable marketing tactics. Instead, our web sites promote the immediate and tangible benefits of Quixtar membership which prospects can easily understand and identify with. Second, our web sites are designed to help IBOs actually make money, whereas most upline provided web sites are designed to get IBOs to spend money on tapes, books, seminars, and other non-value added items. Third, our web development is completely customer driven. We rely heavily on the feedback of our clients to determine what new features and improvements are added in each new version of our web sites.
QBlog - Briefly explain how IBO Systems was developed from the initial concept to its current state today.
Adam - Years ago a friend showed me his website for his Quixtar business, which naturally was provided by his upline... for a monthly fee of course. Upon entering the site I noticed that many of the features of the site failed to work properly, if at all, and the main menu rearranged itself from page to page making it very difficult to navigate through the site.
Based on the site's design and lack of real business building features, it was readily apparent that the main purpose of the site was to get him to buy books, tapes, and seminars from his upline. The site was clearly not going to be an effective business building tool with its unprofessional design and lack of usability.
Being a good friend of mine, I thought it would be fun to put together a nice, professionally designed web site for him as a surprise. As I was working on the project, it occurred to me that if it would be useful for him, then maybe other IBOs would find it useful... and that’s when IBO Systems was born.
We spent two years doing research and development for our flagship service, IBOportal. We consulted with Quixtar IBOs, including a Quixtar Diamond, and Quixtar's business support materials department. After four complete rewrites, we were finally satisfied that IBOportal had become a professional quality product and it was officially launched in 2003.
QBlog - What existing Web sites and/or businesses serve(d) as inspiration for IBO Systems?
Adam - My favorite source for inspiration is CoolHomePages.com. I've looked at hundreds of web sites for elements that I like, and then I use those elements or concepts as the starting point for my own designs.
QBlog - Are you or any IBO Systems employees currently Quixtar IBOs? If not, then was anyone an IBO with Quixtar (or Amway) previously?
Adam - We have a company policy that no employees are to be affiliated with any directing marketing company, as that could be viewed as a conflict of interest. My wife was involved with Amway before we got married which technically made me an IBO once we were married, however, the affiliation with Amway/Quixtar ended some time ago.
QBlog - It looks like your site is PHP powered. Am I correct in assuming that it's AMP powered (Apache, MySQL and PHP)? If so, what went into your decision to use open source solutions for your business?
Adam - Yes, that is correct. We chose Apache, MySQL, and PHP because of their popularity in the development community. We knew they had matured to a point that continued development was a virtual certainty. We also liked the portability that the combination offered, being that most web servers are UNIX based.
QBlog - What OS is currently running on your (primary) home computer?
Adam - Windows XP Professional.
QBlog - What was the last concert you attended and how did you like it?
Adam - I took my wife to a Michael Allen Harrison concert on Valentine’s Day. Michael is a classical pianist in Portland, Oregon. We enjoyed the concert very much.
QBlog - One common criticism of Quixtar is that it does not fully utilize the Web for communication. What is your opinion of that criticism and how is IBO Systems addressing the issue of Web-based communications?
Adam - This is one area that I feel Quixtar really failed to capitalize on. The transition from Amway to Quixtar was intended to turn Amway into an e-commerce business which, presumably, you would think would utilize the many benefits of the web. For some reason they decided to run Quixtar the old Amway style, and I think it may hurt them in the long run. Since the corporation has failed to provide any web tools to its IBOs, and because most upline provided web sites are designed to do nothing more than fleece their downline, IBO Systems saw a need and met it. IBOportal is designed to be an effective business building tool by engaging, informing, qualifying, and communicating with prospects. As a result, we have received nothing but rave reviews from Quixtar IBOs, as can be seen on our testimonials page.
QBlog - Can you elaborate on how your company is utilizing the Web for communication? Does IBO Systems use email newsletters, online forums, chat rooms, etc.?
Adam - Currently Quixtar still relies on the Amway style of communication, in that IBOs still have to go to a prospects’ home (or restaurant, seminar, etc.) to present their business opportunity. What IBO Systems does is offer a cost-effective way of presenting the business to prospects by utilizing a custom prospecting web site. Not only does IBOportal present the business in a clear and concise manner, but it also learns and records a prospect’s interests so the referring IBO can follow up with meaningful conversations. In addition, IBOportal also offers some basic communication tools like e-mail and auto-responders that allow an IBO to interact with his or her prospects.
Currently we are evaluating a number of communication tools for possible inclusion in IBOportal, including a client forum so our users can share ideas, live chat rooms so IBOs can hold question and answer meetings with prospects or online meetings with their group, and customizable e-mail newsletters so IBOs can keep in touch with their prospects and their group. Increased interactivity and communication is the focus of our next major release of IBOportal.
QBlog - As the Web evolves in what way to you foresee blogs impacting that evolution, if at all?
Adam - To be honest, I may not be qualified to answer this question. I only recently discovered the usefulness of blogs when I discovered Qblog and MLMblog. So far, I like what I see and hope it will continue.
QBlog - IBO Systems appears to be open to any and every IBO without regard for any specific LOS (Line of Sponsorship). Does the possibility of providing solutions for a variety of LOS groups present any problems? Also, have you worked with any specific LOS and if so, what type of response have you received?
Adam - Yes, we are open to any Quixtar IBO in North America. So far we've not run into any problems providing solutions to the various LOS groups. To be honest, we figured most IBOs would be loyal to their upline, and that most of our clients would be IBOs that don’t have a web site option available from their upline. Much to our surprise, IBOs are leaving their LOS web sites in droves and switching over to IBO Systems. We have not yet worked with any LOS, although just recently a Crown Ambassador who does not currently provide his downline with a web site option, requested us to contact him about IBOportal.
QBlog - How is business for IBO Systems? Has it met, exceeded or lagged behind expectations?
Adam - Business has certainly exceeded our expectations so far. We’ve been growing at a rate of well over 200% per month so far this year, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing.
QBlog - Do you have any type of VC money backing the business or some other source of revenue?
Adam - IBO Systems was initially funded by a six-figure investment from within the company, and is now completely self sustaining. We have not received any funding from outside sources.
QBlog - If some young, eager Web professional wanted to start a Web business what advice would you give to him or her?
Adam - Answer for those currently without web skills
Take your time to do it right. Go through the multitude of free tutorials all over the web. Be able to code by hand without a WYSIWYG program. Know how to code in HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL. And don’t think just because you have a copy of FrontPage that you’re ready to start a web development business.
Answer for a professional web developer wanting to start an actual business of some kind (other than web development)
Have a solid plan first and foremost. Know your target market. Be certain that your target market will want your product or service and be willing to pay your price. Find a niche market and avoid saturated markets. Don’t invest your life savings because most businesses eventually fail. Remember that most successful people failed at least once before making it, so the old adage holds true, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
QBlog - Imagination: You've just been hired by Quixtar as a consultant. They ask you to look at their site, review it and give them feedback about what should be changed, removed, modified or added to improve the site as a whole. In a nutshell, what would you tell Quixtar?
Adam -Frankly, with all the hype surrounding Quixtar when it was first launched, and its supposed “$500 million” price tag, I expected a lot more than what was delivered. It was quite obvious that 99% of their investment went into the back-end development, and not the user interface which was seriously lacking in terms of visual appeal and usability. Quixtar has recently made some changes to the user interface which have dramatically improved the visual appeal. Quixtar still needs to ditch the cheesy Windows 98 menu system. Most people have WinXP so it looks totally out of place. I would also suggest that the navigation system be broken down into subsections, rather than all together on one nav bar, to avoid user overload.
QBlog - Please list the top ten sites that you regularly visit. In other words, what ten sites would we most often see in your browser history (other than IBO Systems) and then briefly explain why you visit them regularly, if you can?
Adam - In no particular order: